My conviction is that those fights need to be fought right now and can be won. And if in fact we have finite political capital, energy, resources, we need to win those fights. Barack Obama More Quotes by Barack Obama More Quotes From Barack Obama If you can look back and say, "The economy's better. Our security's better. The environment's better. Our kids' education is better," if you can say that you've made things better, then considering all the challenges out there, you should feel good. But I'm the first to acknowledge that I did not crack the code in terms of reducing this partisan fever. Barack Obama feel-good challenges kids The problem is that, over time, big pieces of business that have to get done without leadership from Washington, don't get done. Barack Obama pieces problem done I would have I think made a bigger mistake if I had said, "Eh, chemical weapons. That doesn't really change my calculus." I think it was important for me as president of the United States to send a message that in fact there is something different about chemical weapons [in Syria]. Barack Obama important mistake thinking Michelle [Obama] never fully took to the scrutiny. I mean, she's thrived as a first lady, but it's not her preference. Barack Obama preference mean firsts [Michelle Obama] was the hardest sell. And she never fully embraced being in the public spotlight, which is ironic, given how good she is. Barack Obama spotlight ironic given I look forward to teaching the occasional class, 'cause I was a professor. And I had fun doing it. Barack Obama teaching class fun I think I'm the best president I've ever been right now. And I think the team that is operating right now functions as well as any team that I've had. And so, you know, there is a part of you that thinks, "Man, we're pretty good at this stuff right now." And you hate to see that talent disperse. Barack Obama team hate men I have a deep appreciation for the wisdom of this guy , George Washington. Barack Obama this-guy guy appreciation Like Joe Biden and so many other Americans, I've lost people I love deeply to cancer. I've heard often from those whose loved ones are suffering from Alzheimer's, addiction, and other debilitating diseases. Their heartbreak is real, and so we have a responsibility to respond with real solutions. Barack Obama cancer real responsibility One of the gratifying things, I think, about the end of my presidency even though admittedly my successor ran against a lot of what we stood for, is when you look at the individual issues and the progress that we've made on a lot of those issues, we got the support of a pretty decent majority. Barack Obama issues support thinking If in fact the Republicans make some modifications [of Obamacare], some of which I may have been seeking previously, but they wouldn't cooperate because they didn't wanna make the system work, and re-label it as Trumpcare, I'm fine with that. Barack Obama obamacare may facts Toughest decision was early in my presidency when I ordered 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. As somebody who had run to end a large troop presence overseas. Barack Obama troops decision running What we have done, I think, is build a model from a lot of hard lessons in Afghanistan and Iraq but in other places around the world, where we are working with them in an advisory capacity. Barack Obama iraq done thinking We don't have this huge footprint, we are less likely to be targeted as, you know, occupiers [in Afghanistan and Iraq]. Barack Obama footprint afghanistan iraq I think we did a really good job in saving this economy and putting us back on the track of growth. Barack Obama track jobs thinking In 2010 there were a lot of folks who were still out of work. There were a lot of folks who had lost their homes or saw their home values plummet, their 401k's plummet. Barack Obama saws home lost If you look at sort of how politics has divided itself here in this country, the big divide right now is between urban areas, which have become increasingly Democratic, and rural or exurban areas that feel as if they're being ignored. Barack Obama being-ignored country looks If we're not there making the argument then the cultural gulf that Republicans try to exploit saying, "Ah, these city slickers: they're all looking down on you, they don't care about you. They're just trying to help out their various special interest constituencies," that argument ends up being successful. Barack Obama cities successful special Health care got done because there were a lot of people out there who aren't professional politicians, but are citizens, who pushed for it even when the politics was hard. Barack Obama citizens done people Our focus on the investigation is really wide-ranging. And we can't limit it to just one point in time. Barack Obama investigation focus limits
